Light for indicating wave patterns



June 12, 1951 i w. JOHNSTON 2,556,586

LIGHT FOR INDICATING WAVE PATTERNS Filed Dec. 17, 1947 iSO AMPLIFIER 56 I I26 13a 88 PATTERN CONTROLLER 4o 1 B.RF. am. 5.25 am.

1 H?- v 155 l l l Patented June 12, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 ,556,586 LIGHT FOR I'NDfGATING WAVE'PATTERNS I Robert W. Johnston, Dayton; Ohio Application December 17, 1947', serial No; 792,312 1 Claim-:- 4 (c1. 177'--346) This invention relates to a visual indication of various types of sound waves, which invention may be used either for scientific analysis or for entertainment.

Oscillo'graphs, Oscilloscopes and various other devices have been used in connection with vibrations' that may be formed by various means;

An object of this invention is" to'p'rovide a, device for visually indicating the characteristics of sound vibrations or other vibrations.

Another object of this invention is'to providea plurality of rotatably mounted lights generating separate paths; the lights being energized by varione band" widths capable of flashing whenever a predetermined voltage is attained and going out? at a predetermined cut-out Voltage, to thereby flash-patterns depending upon the characteristic of the sound waves. v

Anotherobiect of this invention is to generate a signal in response to sound waves, which generated' signal passes through a series of band pass filters, the output of each. band pass filter being used" to energize am'ovable light that il'lu'- minates whenever the input voltage reaches a" predetermined magnitude and" goes out whenever the-voltage drops to a predetermined value:

Another object of this invention is to provide arotatably mounted disc used for thepurpose or entertainment and flashing a pattern determinedby variable vibrations. 7

Other objects and advantages-reside in the-con struction'of' parts, the combinationthereof and the mode of operation, as will become more'apparent from the following description-- Inthe drawings, Figure 1 discloses a cross-sec tional view of the mechanism together with a schema-tic wiring diagram associated with the mechanism.

Figure 2 isa front elevational' view of the rotatably mounted disc, as viewed from'the' lettuof Figure l. l

Figure 3 discloses a modification of the device disclosed in Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings, the referencecliar enter in indicates a housing supporting a stand-- ard I2 having mounted thereon; an electric motor H". The armature shaft l6 of the electric motor is connected to a shaft [8 This shaft l8 has fixedly attached to one end a plate supporting a disc 22 by means of a plurality of screws or bolts 24, so that the disc 22 rotates with the shaft l8, which in turn is driven by the armature shaft l 6. The disc 22 supports the lights 30, 32 and 34. These lights may be gas filled tubes, such as neon tubes, argon tubes or any other suitable tubes or lights. Gas filled tubes have a very desirable characteristic for this purpose, in that the tube wlll not illuminate excepting when the" impressed voltage: attains a predetermined value. Further more, these tubes have a sharp cut-outvoltage,

s'o-thatwhenever the voltage drops to a predeteb mined value, ionization of the gases ceases in stantly for all practical purposes That being the case, the gas filled tubes will only be illuminated during the period that the impressed voltage is above predetermined value.

For the purpose of illustration, a microphone: 40, grounded at t2 and connected by a has, has the output supplied to an amplifier in the housing In for amplifying thesignal; This ant-" plifieri is. grounded at 48 and has a plurality ofoutlet' leads 50; 52 and 54 connected to the bandpass'filters 56, 68 and 60. These band pass filters are preferably designed to pass certain signals, excluding allothers. For example, the'band pass:- filter 56 may be used for passing signals up to a frequency of 500'. The band pass filter 58 may pass signals from a frequency of 500 to 1000 and the'bancl pass filter 60 may pass'signals of ansquency' higher than 1000.

The band pass filter 56 has itsoutlet connected by means of a; lead 62 to a brush 6'4 contactinga slip ring 66; This slip ring 66 is connected-by a suitable Iead68, shown schematically, to the one: terminal of a gas filled tube'30. The other'terminal of the gas filled tube 30 is groundedby" means: of a suitable lead 10 through the slip ring 12 to'grdund.

The band pass filter 58 is connected by means a leadtl] to a brush 82 contacting a slip ring The slip ring. 84 is comiected-by" alead 86'- to oneterzninal of the gas filled tube 32,v also: grounded through the slip ring 12. The band pass filter 60 is connected by al'ead 90' to abrush 92 contacting the slip ring 94. The slip ring: 64* is: connected. by a lead: 96 to the one terminalof the" gas filled tube 34, the'other terminal of which is grounded through the. slip ring".

A- suitable. light l-ullimay be located in theoenter of the disc 22 merelyfor the purpose-of illu mination and is energized from any suitable source of energy The amplifier 46 may beenergized by connecting the leads'lflz and I04 to a suitablesu'pplyot either direct or alternating current as the particular type of amplifier may require.

It may readily be seen that when the motor I4 is energized, it rotates the disc 22. Upon the amplifier 46 being connected to a suitable source of energy and upon speaking in front of the microphone 40, the electric signals flowing through the amplifier 46 from the microphone 40 will cause various signals to pass through the band pass filters 56, 58 and 60, so as to cause the several gas filled tubes 30, 32 and 34 to be illuminated only when a sufiiciently high voltage is impressed upon each of the neon lights to cause ionization thereof, so as to cause patterns to be displayed on the face of the disc. These patterns have been schematically shown by the broken lines I06; I08 and H shown in Figure 2. Some of the gas filled tubes may be filled with a neon gas and others by argon gas or any other suitable gas. As is well known to those skilled in the art, ionization of neon gases gives ofi a red light. Ionization of argon gases gives off a blue light.

with the preferred embodiment. The number of gas filled tubes, the type of gas filled tubes and the number of filters are a matter of choice.

Furthermore, the patterns may be altered by selecting tubes having different cut-out voltages. If, for example, one of the tubes has a low breakdown voltage, a number of pulsations or alternations of the signal would show up in the pattern. By selecting another tube having extremely high break-down voltage, only a few of the pulsations or alternations will cause the tube to be energized. By selecting tubes having various gradations of break-down voltages and various grada- If, for example, the tubes containing argon gasv were enclosed in yellow glass, such tubes will give off a green light, the shade of which depends upon the intensity of the color of the glass and the intensity of the illumination.

.Thus, it can be seen that from the signals within the voice range, three distinct patterns may be generated upon the face of the disc, the pattern depending entirely upon the qualities of the voice, sometimes referred to as the "timber of the voice and the sounds submitted. Furthermore, these patterns may differ in color, as well as in pattern, for different sounds by the same voice. The same words being spoken into the microphone by different individuals will result in different patterns. One voice may have a great number of overtones, resulting in a complex pattern, especially in the higher frequencies, as compared with another voice having less overtones. Also, by controlling the magnitude of the currents transmitted to the band pass filters, the patterns may be altered, resultin in a very interesting phenomenon that is both instructive and interesting. Although the speaking voice has been referred to, any other source of sound could be used to vibrate the microphone.

In the modification disclosed in Figure 3,a disc I20 is fixedly attached to a shaft I22 mounted in a standard and adapted to be driven, by an electric motor, not shown. In the modification the disc I20 has mounted therein a plurality of gas filled tubes I26, I28, I and I32. To the rear of the disc I20 there is mounted a series of slip rings I36, I38, I40 and I42 connected by leads I52, I54, I56 and I58 respectively to the gas filled tubes'l'26; I28, I30 and I32. A series of brushes I62, I64, I66 and I68 connect the slip rings I36, I38, -I40-and I42 respectively to the band pass filters I18, I16, I14 and H2 respectively, each being energized from an amplifier I80, the input of which may be energized by any suitable electrical signal, such as the microphone 40. The amplification of the amplifier I80 may be adjusted by means of suitable rheostats operated by a knob I82, to thereby alter the pattern swept out by rotating the disc I20 and energizing the neon lights by means of filtered signals.

Each of the neon lights is grounded to a slip ring I88. Again, the pattern is influenced by the incoming signals as filtered by the several band pass filters to generate a series of patterns in a manner similar to that described in connection I84 through a brush I86 and a return lead 6 without the use of band pass filters. patterns may be varied by the pattern control tions of cut-out voltages, it can readily be seen that the patterns generated by the several tubes will vary greatly, in spite of the fact that all are energized from the same source of energy Again, the

knob, increasing or decreasing the impressed voltage applied to the several gas filled tubes.

Although the device has been described as being sound responsive, the device could be used for generating patterns in response to other vibrations, as for example, mechanical vibrations, fluctuating intensities of light by means of photoelectric cells, fiuctuations in color and other vibrations or impulses.

.Although the preferred embodiment of the device has been described, it will be understood that within the purview of this invention various changes may be made in the form, details, propor-v tion and arrangement of parts, the combination thereof and mode of operation, which generally stated consist in a device capable of carrying out the objects set forth, as disclosed and defined in the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:'

In a device for producing visual patterns responsive to sound, said device including a rotatable disc, means for rotating the disc, a plurality of gas filled tubes radially mounted on the disc, said gas filled tubes being so constructed and arranged as to have various gradations of break-down voltage, some having low break-down voltages, others having high break-down voltages, means for generating electrical signals responsive to sound vibrations, amplifying means for amplifying the electrical signals, means for dividing the output signals of the amplifier into band widths, and means for supplying the band widths to the gas filled tubes so as to cause each gas filled tube to be illuminated when the voltage of theimpressed signal exceeds the break-down voltage of the tube to thereby generate patterns deter-' mined by the voltages of each of the band widths.

ROBERT W. JOHNSTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 1,977,997 Patterson Oct. 23, 19'34 

